The Youngstown State volleyball team beat UIC the first two sets and finished off the Flames in the fourth to earn a solid road win at the Flames Athletic Center on Saturday. The set scores were 25-23, 25-15, 22-25, 25-20.

Shannon Watson had 12 kills and five blocks as one of four Penguins with at least 10 kills. Lauren Thompson posted 11 kills on a .429 attack percentage and tied for match-high honors with six blocks. Lexi Egler and Sam Brown both finished with a double-double.

Stephenee Yancy registered a match-high 18 kills for UIC.

"I love the way our team responded after yesterday's loss to Valparaiso," YSU head coach Mark Hardaway said. "We had great energy and effort on the court today. We were very aggressive and were able to keep UIC out of system quite a bit in the first two sets."

"Val Jeffery did a great job moving the ball around, and, as a result, we had four players with double digit kills. Early in the match Sam Brown and Lexi Egler carried us, and Aly Ryan, Shannon Watson and, especially, Lauren Thompson, stepped up to close out the match."

YSU scored five of the final seven points in the first set to emerge with a 25-23 win. Jeffery tied the score at 21 on a kill, and her ace put the Penguins up 22-21. After Yancy tied the set with a kill, YSU's final three points came on UIC hitting errors.

The Penguins' lead in the second set was just 17-14 before they closed the set on an 8-1 run. Ryan started the run with back-to-back kills, and Brown also had two kills in the stretch.

UIC scored six of the final seven points in the third set to win 25-22, but the Penguins pulled away in the fourth by scoring seven of the final nine points.

Youngstown State returns home to host Green Bay and Milwaukee next weekend